Pakistan's Taliban Launches Jihad Against Sexting

Do not even think about texting an adorable photo of your baby to your grandmother if you live in the tribal regions of Pakistan. The Taliban might attack you for it — and they’re definitely going to smash your cell phone. It’s all sexting to them.

Over 300 cellphones and a dozen computers have been seized and burned so far. The Taliban have reportedly shut down sales of cameraphones and asked tribesmen to cooperate against the “misuse” of those they’ve yet to confiscate.

“The Taliban said they had already banned watching movies and listening to music,” The News reports. “Some of the people, they claimed, were still using their computers for watching movies and music and they had to initiate action against them.” The audacity!

It wasn’t long ago that the Taliban had a different beef with cellphones: They were essentially electronic homing devices for the armed drones overhead. Trackers placed in SIM cards used in militants’ cellphones told the drones who to kill, Taliban propaganda used to argue. Now the anti-cellphone campaign is a mechanism for social control.

The Taliban have run effective terror campaigns against the Pakistani people before. But maybe the anti-cellphone drive could turn into a donnybrook. In Iraq, al-Qaida turned popular support into popular disgust by mutilating Sunnis for the crime of smoking. And you know how the kids love to sext these days.